Microfossils are the fossil remains of unicellular and multicellular micro-organisms and the dissociated elements and skeletal fragments of macro-organisms. They include the fossil types Foraminifera, Ostracods, Coccolithophora, Diatoms, Radiolaria and Dinoflagellates, among others. These fossils can be found in many levels of a geological formation.
Biostratigraphy can be useful in building geologic models for hydrocarbon exploration and in the drilling operations that test those models. By understanding the structure and properties of geological formations, the cost of drilling wells for oil and gas exploration can be reduced. For this reason fossils, including micofossils, are manually examined as they appear in cuttings brought up from down hole drilling and cleaning operations. However, these current examination methods are prone to human error, and it is sometimes difficult to determine the origin of the cuttings/fossils, especially in vertical exploration wells.